This is how you start as a freelancer

In principle, acquiring a freelance project is not very different from applying for traditional paid work. As a rule, projects can be acquired either by selling your services yourself or by outsourcing the sales to an agency or consulting firm.

If you decide to sell by yourself, you should start building your own network with the people responsible for the client companies’ projects, products or teams. You should also familiarise yourself with modern sales and practise systematic sales work.

An agency handles sales, agreements and the construction of a network on your behalf. For example, at Finitec, we first verify your interests and conditions, on the basis of which we proactively offer you work opportunities that meet your criteria.

Consulting firms operate partly on the same principle as agencies, although consulting firms have a financial incentive to primarily offer the company’s own experts for projects.

It is therefore worth evaluating different options, the time spent on these and reflecting on them with regard to what matters most to you at work and outside of work.

The workload for the acquisition of an assignment mainly consists of establishing and maintaining customer relations. The more you are aware of both the customers’ business & development project priorities and current status, the more likely it is that you will be able to provide your expertise to customers in a timely manner.

For example, at CORE, we maintain an ongoing dialogue with our customers to ensure that projects progress on schedule and provide the necessary expertise for every step along the way.

If you choose to work with us, in order to acquire a project, it is up to you to create a CV, select an interesting project from the opportunities offered, and have a more detailed discussion about the work opportunity with the customer.

The duration of assignments varies depending on the nature of the work and the project. For example, in software development or large-scale transformation projects, assignments are usually longer than 18 months. Contracts for these are typically made in 6–12 month periods.

Although the majority of our assignments are for large projects, sometimes our customers also need short-term consulting. This can include audits, specifications, or even design sprints.

Pricing is primarily influenced by the prevailing market situation, i.e. the demand and supply of your expertise. In addition, the price also depends on, for example, the duration of the project, allocation and responsibilities.

CORE has accumulated quite a lot of data on pricing. We offer our insights and support you in finding the right price point and communicating the value of your work.

You should first consider what your current strengths are and in what direction you would like to develop yourself and your competence. Listing your previous projects helps in defining these points. Reflect what made each project interesting or repulsive. Evaluation criteria may include, for example, technologies, the nature of problems to be solved, industry, methods, your role, the rest of the team.

Based on this, you will probably have some idea of your strengths and what you would like to do next. Now it’s a good idea to create a project CV from the project list you created. The CV doesn’t have to be massive: it’s enough to have a project-specific description of the following:

• Name of the project and customer (anonymised if necessary)

• Purpose of the project

• Your role

• Technologies and/or methods

• Project's duration, i.e. 02/2022 - 08/2022

Now it is easier to advertise your key competence and also identify the appropriate price range by mirroring the market. In areas that correspond to your skills, remuneration is naturally higher, and when taking on completely new expertise in projects, flexibility in the price is often needed.

Finitec’s service includes free support and a second opinion on your competence description, pricing and the creation of a CV to facilitate the acquisition of a project. You can talk directly with our Talent Agents about this.

Setting up a limited company costs EUR 275 and a business name EUR 60. Subsequently, ongoing expenses include insurance premiums, accounting fees, and equipment and subscription fees.

Setting up a limited company is cheaper when done electronically on the Business Information System’s website. When made online the fee is EUR 275 and filing the notification on paper is EUR 380. The start-up notification of a business name in the Trade Register costs EUR 60 online. Filing the notification on paper costs EUR 115.

The price of YEL insurance is on average 25% of your specified income per year. However, you can decice the ammount, with minimum price of approximately EUR 2,053 per year. However, if you become an entrepreneur for the first time, you will receive a 22% reduction in YEL contributions for the first four years.

For other insurances, you can budget approximately EUR 0–1,000 per year depending on your preferences. The writer, for example, pays a total of EUR 320 for accident, liability, legal and cyber insurance with default indemnity amounts.

It is not in the interests of either party to run idle between projects, and it is the agency’s task to ensure the continuity of the work of the people it represents and the development of their careers. Therefore, we always strive to offer a new assignment before the previous one ends.

We will identify the end date of the assignment no later than one month before the end of the project. Once the end date is known, we will confirm with you what you want to do next and under what conditions. After that, we will proactively offer you further freelance work opportunities in accordance with your conditions.

In principle, our experts do not have to sit idly by between assignments. When you are looking for a new gig in good time before the end of the current one, we are almost guaranteed to be able to offer new opportunities to continue from the current work. However, there is always the possibility of having to wait for a while between gigs. For this purpose, an entrepreneur should accumulate a so-called buffer fund, which, if necessary, can be used to pay wages or, for example, holiday pay.

In the event of the business drying up, the entrepreneur is protected by paying fair YEL insurance and joining an entrepreneurial fund. A member of an employee fund has the opportunity to receive uninterrupted unemployment benefit if they move to an entrepreneurial fund within three months of starting their business.

If the business ends, an entrepreneur is on the same line as other applicants when it comes to income support offered by Kela.

It is advisable to resign from the current job only after the contract has been signed. In general, the start date of the assignment can be arranged with the customer in such a way that it takes into account your notice period. Of course, if you are able to resign from your job before the assignment is confirmed, you can gain a competitive advantage over other applicants with a quick start.

Yes, the company form influences the start-up activities and the life of the entrepreneur in many different ways. The company form has a major impact on the company’s taxation and the entrepreneur’s liability. For Tech freelancers, the reasonable alternatives are either a business name or a limited company.

A business name is easy to set up and manage as the accounting remains simple. However, the main disadvantage is that the risks in your business are also your personal risks. Therefore, in the worst case scenario, your personal property will also be subject to garnishment.

Establishing a limited company is slightly more complicated, it is more regulated and you probably want an accountant to help run it. However, this is usually worth the effort and the money, as it is a much safer option in terms of financial risks than a business name. A limited company offers also some tax benefits.

For example, a LinkedIn or GitHub profile is equally suitable for acquiring projects. However, we have found that a project CV is an excellent tool for clarifying your understanding of your competence, thus ensuring more relevant freelance work opportunities with less effort.

You can start a business in Finland regardless of your nationality. All you need is a right of residence in Finland.

You are only obliged to take out a self-employed person’s pension insurance YEL, which is offered at the same price regardless of the insurance company. The purpose of YEL is to secure your pension and it also has an impact on your social security. The price of the insurance is determined according to your YEL income.

The name and content of an entrepreneur’s voluntary insurances vary widely depending on the insurance company. Useful insurances for Tech freelancers can include accident insurance, liability insurance and legal expenses insurance, as well as cyber insurance.

• Accident insurance covers the insured person’s accidents at work and during leisure as well as occupational diseases.
• Legal expenses insurance covers the costs of using a lawyer in civil, criminal or application matters. The insurance may, for example, cover legal costs related to contractual disputes.
• (Cyber)liability insurance indemnifies, for example, the net property damage suffered by another person as a result of a data security breach in the policyholder’s own or an outsourced service provider’s data network.
• Cyber insurance will compensate you for any damages caused by data hacking, data theft and personal data breach.

An entrepreneur is entitled to fringe benefits and they are tax deductible. These benefits include, but are not limited to, lunch, mobile phone and car benefit.